Police hurt in attempt to thwart suicide

Published 8:00 pm, Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Two police officers and a Norwalk man are still reeling, physically and emotionally, after a suicide attempt resulted in moderate to severe exposures to a chemical nerve toxin called malathion.

Police said officers responded to a call shortly before midnight Monday that a 46-year-old man at 32 Crown Ave. had ingested insecticide containing malathion in an attempt to kill himself.

The responding officers, Sgt. Marc Lepore and Officer Russell Ouellette, found that the man had ingested the insecticide, poured it into a vaporizer and turned the vaporizer on, releasing the toxic fumes into the house, police spokesman Sgt. Andre Velez said.

The officers began to feel ill, experiencing burning of the throat, nausea, headaches and difficulty breathing. They evacuated the man and family members in the house to a position of safety outside and called the fire department.

Paramedics were dispatched to the scene but did not enter the house. They treated the man and the officers at the scene and transported all three to Norwalk Hospital, police said.

A Fairfield County hazardous materials team responded to the scene to provide decontamination services for the responders and residents of the home.

The Norwalk Hospital emergency department evacuated its patients and notified dispatchers that all ambulance traffic be diverted to Stamford Hospital between 12:45 and 2:15 a.m Tuesday while they awaited a hazardous materials team's assessment of the Crown Avenue residence.

Stamford was able to accommodate two patients during that time, said Dr. Michael Carius, chairman of the emergency department.

According to Dennis Schain, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, the call for a hazardous materials team came in at 1:50 a.m. and the team took about an hour to get to the scene. Once there, it assisted in determining what chemicals were used, took air quality samples to determine if and when the house could be re-entered and let hospital staff know what the three men were exposed to.

"Poison control advised us to get a hazardous materials team to the house," Carius said. "Once the patients were here, we didn't want to run the risk of exposing our staff since we didn't know what the chemicals were, so we had them suit up in protective gear while the patient and officers were being showered and cleansed."

Carius said malathion is an organophosphate that causes respiratory system paralysis, seizures and coma when exposure is severe enough, and the chemical gets into the bloodstream. Carius said the exposure to the middle-aged man was severe and characterized Lepore's as less severe, as he and Ouellette only inhaled the chemical.

Lepore and the resident were admitted to the hospital. Ouellette was treated and released Tuesday morning.

Police Chief Harry Rilling said he was pleased with the handling of the situation by his department, the fire department, paramedics and the DEP.

"I think we had a highly coordinated response by highly skilled and trained personnel," Rilling said.

Rilling emphasized that all officers have medical training that tells them how to assess and deal with emotionally distressed people. However, he also said this was a critical incident and was still being reviewed.

"Any critical incident is a learning experience," he said.

Rilling said Lepore and Ouellette were still feeling the effects of the poisoning.

"They were made very, very ill," he said. "But I have spoken with them both today, and they are feeling better. We are hoping there will be no long-term effects, and we don't think there will be."

Velez said that the incident typified some of the hazards involved in the role of first responders.

"These officers represent the majority of officers. They put their lives at risk," Velez said.